


All The Things She Knows

by ThimbleOfWeeds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Female Harry Potter, James Potter Lives, Lily Evans Potter Dies, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 00:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16964028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThimbleOfWeeds/pseuds/ThimbleOfWeeds
Summary: There are many things Iris Potter learns during her years at Hogwarts.





	All The Things She Knows

At eleven years old, Iris Potter stood on Platform 9 ¾ hugging her father as hard as she could. It was finally time to go to Hogwarts. Her dad and had told her stories of his time there, all the pranks he played, the adventures he had, the secrets he found, and Iris was ready to explore the ancient castle herself. 

The young girl had long, black hair hanging down her back and her bright, green eyes were obscured by silver glasses. She already had her black Hogwarts robes on and her trunk was hidden in her pocket. As her dad shrunk it for her, he explained that Filch searched the suitcases and that was so keeping it on you was the only surefire way to not lose prank items. 

“Remember, I, don’t get caught and stay away from any smelly Slytherins,” her father whispered into her ear before releasing her from the hug. He kissed her on her cheek, a smile on his face as they said their final goodbyes. “I love you, I. Make your Mom proud. And have fun.”

“I love you too, Dad. I’ll write to you.” She grabbed a hold of the suitcase in her pocket and hopped onto the gleaming red train. 

At eleven years old, Iris Potter knew that she would make her Dad and Mom proud. She’d get O’s in school, pull pranks, and she’d show those Snakes what would happen if you bothered a Lion. 

\--- 

At twelve years old, Iris Potter stood in the dungeons, waiting for her target to finish with dinner. She was by herself, Hermione was safely surrounded by the shelves in the library and Neville was off with Ron. They would cover for her, if anyone said anything to the teachers, which Iris doubted. 

Snakes began to slither down from their dinners, passing Iris under her Invisibility Cloak. Iris waited, watching as groups of Slytherins walked to their Common Rooms. Eventually, Iris saw her target. 

Black hair was chopped into a bob and a pug nose was stuck upwards in the air. Parkinson was hanging onto Malfoy’s arm; he was clearly annoyed with her, but the dog didn’t notice, too busy whining about how cold it was. It was time to make the pug pay. 

She had called Hermione a mudblood and gotten a slap in the face for the offense. But instead of learning, Parkinson just talked behind Hermione’s back. The dog was saying Hermione copied off of purebloods notes to get good grades. Though the idea was ridiculous and no one believed it, but Parkinson would still pay. 

Her dad had given her a notebook from his time at Hogwarts for her birthday. It was full of spells and potions that would show the Slytherin the error of her ways. Iris had paged through the book until she found the perfect spell. 

Lifting up her wand, Iris pictured Hermione in her mind and whispered, “Tasec”. Parkinson suddenly stopped talking about all the scarves she wanted for Yule and instead she began spilling her guts about Hermione. 

“Granger is clever. More clever than me. But she’s a mudblood. I should be superior. People like her more than me, she’s so much smarter than me. I wish I was more like her,” Parkinson kept rambling and Iris grinned. She saw a few Hufflepuffs further down the corridor and knew that this would be spread around the castle. Perfect. 

At twelve years old, Iris Potter knew that Slytherins were not as superior as they pretended to be and that Pansy Parkinson was an insecure dog. And she knew that this prank notebook was going to be very fun.

\--- 

At thirteen years old, Iris Potter stood at the Ministry Christmas Ball in dark gold robes. Her hair was in a braided crown, and her dad had let her apply some makeup spells. This was the first year she was going to the Christmas Ball, and Iris was excited to dance and drink the elvish wine that was floating around the room. 

“Remember, only one glass,” whispered her dad, as if he could read her mind. “You should go find Neville or Susan, I have to go be a boring adult.” 

Iris began to wander around the room, snagging one of the floating glasses of wine and looking for Susan. People were dancing in the center, enchanted instruments were being led by the famed composer, Antonio Ossani. Iris would love to dance, but Neville was awful at it and she didn’t want to get her toes stepped on. 

“Hello there, I. You look really pretty!” Susan Bones was wearing black dress robes with white lace over them. She was standing with Neville next to the enchanted windows. The scene looked like a peaceful, snowy night, though Iris knew that it was a clear sky outside. 

“Hey Sue, I love your dress. How long have you two been here?”

“Neville just arrived, but I’ve been here for a bit. Auntie refuses to be late.” 

The three started discussing classes, what presents they had gotten for Christmas, and what they were planning for the winter holidays before they were interrupted by two Slytherins, Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy. 

They were both wearing formal dress robes, Nott’s was black and Malfoy’s was a dark green. Malfoy stood a step behind Nott, watching them with a blank expression. “Miss Bones, I don’t suppose you’d agree to dance with me?” Nott asked stiffly. 

Susan bit her lip and looked at Nott before nodding her head slowly and taking his hand. She spared a look at Iris before walking away to join the dance floor and it was just Malfoy, Neville, and Iris left. 

The silence was uncomfortable at best and Iris could tell the only reason Neville and Malfoy hadn’t started fighting was because they were at their first Ball and their guardians would be furious if they caused a scene. 

Iris was waiting for Malfoy to leave and go back to wherever the other Slytherins were, but instead he opened his mouth. “Miss Potter, would you like to dance?” 

Iris was about to say no, but Neville didn’t dance well and she loved dancing. “...Okay. Just one song.” 

She put her hand in Malfoy’s. It was soft, maybe softer than hers and it was really warm. Iris expected it to be cold, like the rest of him. He put one arm around her waist as the song changed and they began to slide across the dance floor. 

Malfoy danced very well. He didn’t even seem worried about missing a step or stepping on her feet. Maybe he didn’t care. “Did you notice the Minister’s new hat?” Draco asked halfway through their dance. 

Iris looked at Draco suspiciously before she replied, “No. I haven’t seen the Minister yet.”

“It’s awful. Worse than his old one. It’s fuschia. And he refuses to take it off. Theo says it’s because he’s balding, but I think his wife gave it to him after she caught him cheating,” Draco whispered it as if it was a great government conspiracy. 

“The Minister is cheating on his wife?”

“Well of course! It’s practically a requirement for the job. A Minister is always cheating on his wife with his secretary. Honestly Potter, it’s basic knowledge.” 

“So if you were the Minster and Parkinson was your secretary, would you cheat on your wife with her?” Iris asked. She noticed that Malfoy had been avoiding Parkinson even more than usual this year. He seemed to detest her and Iris wasn’t sure how the dog hadn’t gotten the message yet.

“Oh Merlin no! Potter, please. My mind doesn’t need images like that. A Minister’s secretary is always sexy. Parkinson would never get the job.” Iris couldn’t help but giggle at that, and Draco let out a small smile. “So do you think it’s baldness or punishment from his wife?”

“The hat? Let’s find out.”

Iris came up with a plan and explained it to Malfoy as they danced. Once everything was figured out, they stopped dancing and split up. Malfoy went back to his parents and Iris headed over to the food table, which was conveniently located next to the windows. She opened one of the windows with a flick of her wand and a few murmured words before she grabbed a plate and pretended to be looking over at the food. 

Malfoy and his parents led the Minister over to the table. He loved to be around the Malfoys, begging for more money like a dog for scraps. They stood next to the end of the food table, and Malfoy glanced over at Iris before he pretended to listen to Fudge. 

Iris pointed her wand at Fudge as subtly as she could before she whispered, “Ventus.” Fudge’s atrocious fuschia hat, and it really was as bad as Malfoy said, flew off his head, as if blown from the window. 

At thirteen years old, Iris Potter didn’t know if Slytherins were as bad as her dad said, but she did know that Fudge did not look nice with half a head of hair.

\--- 

At fourteen years old, Iris Potter was shivering next to the Black Lake and wondering what exactly she was doing out here. She had gotten a note from Cedric Diggory asking her to meet her out here at night to talk. Hermione had said it was clearly faked, but Lavender and Parvati has insisted she dress up and meet him for what was sure to be a romantic date. Cedric was so handsome, and Iris knew how much she liked him. And she was a Gryffindor! She wasn’t going to not show up just because it might not be real. But that all made a lot more sense when you weren’t shivering outside in the winter. At night. Without a winter cloak because Lavender had insisted she not wear one. 

After ten more minutes of shivering, Iris sat down and began to throw rocks into the Black Lake. Cedric wasn’t coming, that much was obvious. He’d never be late. Hufflepuffs prided themselves on punctuality. After throwing a huge rock and hearing it’s satisfying sploink!, Iris side and stood. It was ridiculous to think that the perfect sixth year, voted most handsome by the Gryffindor Romance Club (held in the fourth year girls dorm and hosted by Lavender and Parvati) would actually ask Iris on a date. Especially via Hogwarts owl. 

Iris began to make her way back up to the castle. Lavender had spent so much time on her hair, taming it and putting golden pins in it. Honestly, Lavender and Parvati would probably be more disappointed than her. They had insisted she give it a shot, even though Iris hadn’t ever really believed it was real. Hermione was going to be insufferable with her I-told-you-so look. Maybe Iris would say that Cedric had come and they had talked about Seeker stuff. 

The Hogwarts doors were closed. That was not good. Iris had left them open. Clearly whoever had set her up, had locked her out of the castle. Great. One of the protections of Hogwarts prevented you from opening the doors from the outside at night. Iris let out a sigh and slid down to the ground, her back against the door. She’d have to walk to Hogsmeade and try to sneak in that way. Iris let out a groan and banged her head against the door. This night kept getting worse. 

The door pushed against her and Iris jumped up. “Hermione?” 

“Merlin, no, Potter,” she heard someone snark back. 

“Malfoy?” 

Draco pushed the door open enough to let Iris through. He was wearing a thick cloak and underneath was green, silk pajamas. “Pansy was bragging about locking you out of the castle in the Common Room,” he explained with a shrug. “Consider this a thank you for that prank on Fudge last year. His face was hilarious.”

“I’ll get her for this,” Iris swore as she let out a shiver. She would never listen to Lavender about romance again. 

“Why don’t you have a cloak, Potter? Are you insane?” Malfoy said as he looked over at her. 

“Lavender wouldn’t let me.”

Malfoy looked uncomfortable for a second, and Iris saw his face twinge pink as he took his off. “Here,” he said as he handed it to her.

“I can’t accept this, Malfoy. I’ll be fine.” She shivered again and felt a blush grow on her face.

“Consider it a deal then. You take this and in exchange when you prank Pansy, you don’t prank the rest of us Slytherins and you do it somewhere I can enjoy it.”

Iris thought about refusing, but she was very cold and Hogwarts was drafty. So she nodded and took the cloak from Malfoy. 

“Just return it soon. And do it where people won’t notice. I don’t need this getting out. It would ruin my image.” He flipped his hair and let out a dramatic sniff. Iris laughed as she wrapped herself in the cloak and Draco smiled. 

“Thanks, Malfoy.”

The two parted ways, Iris climbing up the stairs to return to the tower and Draco began to delve into the dungeons.

At fourteen years old, Iris Potter knew that accepting dates via owl was a mistake, Pansy Parkinson was a bitch, and Draco Malfoy had the softest, warmest cloaks she had ever felt. 

\---

At fifteen years old, Iris Potter was sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower staring up at the stars. It was a Sunday night and Iris Potter had snuck out of the Common Room to come up here and think. OWLs were creeping closer and instead of studying like Hermione, Iris couldn’t help but be distracted. 

Her father had given her schoolbooks from her mother’s fifth year. Scrawled into the margins were notes from her mother, thoughts on teachers, tips she used to remember spells, messages from her friends. Iris realized she barely knew her mother. She had heard all the stories about her dad’s time at Hogwarts at least twice, she heard about his crazy Auror takedowns that she was sure he embellished, but she didn’t know any stories about her mother, except for the ones about her mom and dad together. 

“Potter?” 

Iris whipped her head around and took in the surprised, grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. He was wearing a thick cloak, this one was dark grey and had silver fur on the hood; it looked nicer than the cloak she had borrowed from him before. “Malfoy? What are you doing up here?”

“What are you doing up here?” he rejoined. He walked over to where she sat. 

“I asked first,” she sang as she smirked.

He sat down near her, sighed, and looked at her with a considering expression. “I should lie and say I came to study for my Astronomy OWLs. I like coming up here to think. And to look at the stars. Now it’s your turn.”

“Apparently my mom liked to sneak up here a lot. At least according to someone named Mary,” Iris said softly. She leaned back on her hands, looking up at the stars. 

Draco looked up as well. He pointed up at a constellation. “That’s the Bellatrix. And there’s Andromeda.”Iris looked at him as he continued. He was practically whispering even though no one was there to overhear them. “The Sirius is there. And that one is the Regulus. My mother is a Black. The last Black of her generation.”

“Andromeda is still alive, isn’t she?”

“She refuses to answer my mother’s letters. My cousin was at Hogwarts in our first year. I tried to talk to her but she just ignored me. Not a very Hufflepuff move.”

“My dad gave me my mom’s schoolbooks from fifth year. It made me realize how little I know about her.”

“My parents refuse to talk about the War. I’m not sure if my father regrets what he did or regrets that it failed. I don’t know what he was thinking. Even if the War was about blood purity, dozens of pureblood families lost all of their members.”

“My dad says it was just some crazy Dark Lord trying to get back at the world.”

“And the whole of Wizarding Britain suffered for it.”

Iris nodded her head. Draco and her sat in silence, consumed in their own thoughts. The cloak Iris brought turned out to be too thin as the night drew on and grew colder. She shivered and Draco arranged his cloak so it was wrapped around both of them. 

They stared at the stars a little more until Iris almost fell asleep. “Thanks,” Iris murmured as she stood. 

Draco nodded and stood as well. “Potter,” he said as a goodbye.

“Iris,” she corrected.

“Draco,” he said with a smile on his face. 

At fifteen years old, Iris Potter knew that sitting on the Astronomy Tower for hours left your butt sore, that she really needed to get a warmer cloak, and that Draco Malfoy had a nice smile.

\---

At sixteen years old, Iris Potter sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and stared at the letter she had received in shock. A black eagle owl had disrupted her breakfast sandwich, comprised of eggs, beans, tomatoes, and toast, before flying out of the Great Hall once more. 

I-

Meet me at the Black Lake at 9 tonight?

-D

Iris glanced at Draco, who was sat across the hall staring back at her. He looked nervous and she could see a bit of pink in his cheeks. She looked back down at the letter, smiled, and nodded once. Then she stuffed the letter into her robes because her roommates were nosy. “It’s private, Lav.”

“Oh come on, I. It’s clearly from a boy with the way you’re blushing. Who is it?”

“Pri-vate,” Iris sung as she dug back into her sandwich. 

At exactly five minutes past 9 that night, Iris put away the tattered piece of parchment she had been staring at while she stood at the shore of the Black Lake. Draco was running late, but it hadn’t been a joke. Or if it was, at least he wasn’t locking her out of the castle. 

Iris had dolled herself up for the evening. Or as best she could while trying to hide from her roommates. She had left most of her hair hanging but made two small braids that wrapped from her temples to the back of her head, put on some small earrings before she ducked beneath her Invisibility Cloak and snuck out of her dorm. 

“I meant to arrive early, you know,” Draco said as he pulled a white iris from behind his back and approached. He was dressed up as well. His white-blond hair was neat, his robes were immaculate, over which he had a black cloak with gold fur. 

“At least you brought a gift,” Iris replied as they began to walk along the lake. 

“Blaise was making a racket in the dorms and held me up when I tried to sneak out. Still, I’m sorry. Thanks for not leaving.”

“It was only a few minutes. And I trust you not to lock me out of the castle.” 

“You’d probably freeze to death,” Draco said as he looked over her with judgement in her eyes. 

“I asked for a cloak for my birthday, but being that it’s in July, I got a summer cloak,” Iris defended. 

Draco gave a half-sigh, half-laugh and wrapped his cloak around the both of them. They walked along the Lake, talking about classes (“Theo and I have a bet about who will fall asleep first in Ancient Runes this year” “Oh! I want in on that. My bet is on Turpin. It’s clear she’s read ahead and is barely paying attention in class.”), other students (“Did you hear Hopkins went on a whole date with Parvati, even kissed her, thinking it was Padma?” “That doesn’t surprise me. What surprises me is why Padma would agree to go out with someone who barely passed their OWLs.”), and what they wanted to do with in the future (“I want to do something with Potions, maybe a Healer, but Father would never let me do something so plebeian.” “Well your father won’t be able to stop you when you’re an adult. And it’s not like he can disown you, you’re his only child.”). 

They ended up sitting at the edge of the Lake and use their magic to throw the heaviest rocks they could find far into the Lake, seeing who could get the biggest splash. When the moon was closer to the horizon than it’s zenith, the two got back up and began to walk back up to the castle. “Do you think Pansy locked us out?” asked Iris as she held Draco’s hand.

“Please. I paid her to. This was all a clever ploy to get you to admit that you think Professor Vector is an awful teacher.”

“She just spends too long talking about using Arithmancy to tell the future! It’s like she thinks she’s teaching Divination!” complained Iris heatedly. 

Draco laughed before he held open the door to the castle for Iris with an extravagant bow full of flourishes and unnecessary hand gestures. Iris giggled and curtsied before entering. They walked down the hall before they reached the staircase that marked the end of their date. “I had a very nice time tonight,” Iris said as she touched the iris in her hair. 

Draco kissed her softly on her lips in agreement. “We should do this again.” 

Iris wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss him more deeply. “Definitely,” she said in between kisses. 

At sixteen years old, Iris Potter learned that sometimes not having a winter cloak was good, the Black Lake could be quite nice at midnight, and Draco Malfoy was an excellent kisser.

\---

At seventeen years old, Iris Potter stood outside of the living room in Potter Manor and took a deep breath. She was wearing green robes and had applied a few makeup charms. Her father was inside and she was preparing herself to go to tell him what she was doing, and who she was doing it with. 

She walked into the room, her father was reading a book and listening to the Wireless. He looked up as she entered and smiled, “Well you’re awfully dressed up for a casserole dinner cooked up by Kinky.” 

She took a breath, “That’s because I’m going on a date instead.”

Her dad seemed stricken by this announcement, as if the idea that she would grow up hadn’t quite reached him. “Like a group date? With a bunch of your friends? Friends like Hermione and Lavender and the Patil Twins?”

“Like a date with a boy, Dad.”

“Who? Ron? Neville? Are you and Neville finally getting together?” Iris could see the light shining in his eyes at that thought. Her dad had never made it a secret that he would be happy to see her together with Neville in the distant future. Probably because Neville was scared of her dad and could be convinced to never look at her with the right threats from the Head Auror. 

“Not Neville, Dad. We grew up together. He’s closer to my brother than someone I would date.” And there went that tiny glimmer of hope. Iris took the time to enjoy this. 

“Who?” he asked. He looked strangled, like this was the worst thing in the world. His daughter going out with a boy who wouldn’t be scared into behaving. 

A chime echoed through the house, signifying someone had come through the Floo. “That’s him,” said Iris with a hint of nervousness. If there was one thing that her dad had made clear, it was that all Slytherins were dirty snakes. And how important enjoying life was, but that’s besides the point. 

Their house elf, Kinky walked in to the living room as he announced their visitor, “Mister Draco Malfoy.”

Draco walked in with his hair styled in a way that Iris knew must have taken him ages. He was wearing black robes trimmed with green and he had a silver ring in the shape of a snake on his finger. But for all his pomp, Iris saw the nervousness in his eyes. 

So, being the Gryffindor in the relationship, and loving a good prank, Iris threw Draco a wink before walking over and kissing him right in front of her dad. In the distance, Iris heard her father choking. And maybe crying. She smiled before leading Draco to the loveseat next to her dad. “Dad. Meet Draco. My love, meet Dad.” 

Her dad mouthed the word love as he looked between Draco’s face, the snake ring, and Iris. His face was white and his mind was working in overtime trying to make sense of everything. 

“Pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter,” Draco said after a few seconds of silence.

“Pleasure? You break into someone’s home-”

“I invited him.”

“-kiss their daughter right in front of them-”

“I kissed him, actually.”

“-and then you say ‘Pleasure to meet you’?!” choked out her dad, his eyes wide. 

“I do believe that’s what happened, yes,” said Iris. 

Her dad looked panicked and Iris couldn’t help but be pleased. So much for being the master prankster. “Make it stop,” he whimpered. 

“If you want Draco to leave, he will, Dad,” Iris said soothingly.

Her father nodded his head, staring at Draco’s snake ring. 

“Alright. See you later then,” Iris said with a rush and a smile. She grabbed onto Draco’s hand and dragged him out of the room. 

“Clever plan, ‘Ris,” said Draco as he kissed her and wrapped a silver winter cloak around her.

“Thank you, thank you,” smiled Iris as they stepped into the fireplace.

“Hey! Wait a second!” shouted her dad. 

The floo whooshed as the pair of them left.

At seventeen years old, Iris Potter knew that pranking her father was as fun as pranking everyone else, she didn’t need a winter cloak if Draco kept loaning her his, and that she loved a Slytherin.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed this little one shot I wrote. I've been wanting to work on Willow, but I needed to write something happy before I wrote more about Willow. So...here's this! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!


End file.
